Ottawa unveils new Arctic ship-registration rules

Transport Minister John Baird, seen here in an undated file photo, announced Feb. 26 that as of July 1, all ships greater that 300 tonnes of displacement making Arctic voyages, whether they be foreign or domestic, must register with the federal government. Any vessel carrying dangerous goods or potential pollutants also face mandatory registration. (FILE PHOTO)

RANDY BOSWELL
Canwest News Service

OTTAWA — The Conservative government took another step this past Friday to assert Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic after publishing new rules regulating domestic and foreign ship traffic in northern waters — a potentially controversial registration system scheduled to come into force on Canada Day.

The planned Northern Canada Vessel Traffic Services Zone, announced near the end of the day Feb. 26 by Transport Minister John Baird, falls short of opposition demands to target all sizes of vessels but could still spark objections from foreign countries — including the United States — that view the Northwest Passage as an “international strait” rather than Canadian waters.

The new regime would replace the current NORDREG ship registry, a voluntary system for tracking the movement of cargo carriers, cruise ships and other large vessels moving through the Canadian Arctic archipelago.

The record retreat of sea ice in recent years and increasing Arctic marine traffic had prompted repeated calls from a wide range of experts for Canada to strengthen its ship-tracking rules in the North.

And in December, a Senate committee urged that all ships — regardless of size — be required to register Arctic voyages with Canadian authorities to help prevent pollution, terrorist activity and search-and-rescue failures.

But the government’s plan requires mandatory registration only for ships of 300 tonnes or more, for tugs with a two-ship weight of 500 tonnes or more, and for any vessel carrying dangerous goods or potential pollutants.

“Mandatory vessel reporting will help keep maritime traffic moving safely and efficiently,” Baird said in a statement announcing the new measures.

“Knowing the positions and movements of vessels, for example, will make it easier to respond quickly to an oil spill. This information will become more important as vessel traffic rises due to development in the Arctic.”

The announcement pointedly noted: “The proposed regulations would apply to both Canadian and foreign vessels, and are consistent with international law regarding ice-covered areas.”

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled plans in 2008 for mandatory Arctic shipping registration, he acknowledged the move could rile other nations. “It’ll be interesting to see. I expect that some countries may object,” he said during an August 2008 visit to the Arctic.

“I think it ultimately is in everybody’s interest to ensure there is some kind of authority in the area, some kind of environmental and commercial authority,” he stated. “We have no particular power play here.”

Last year, the government also introduced stiffer pollution-prevention regulations for Arctic waters, doubling the offshore distance over which Canadian rules would apply to 370 kilometres.

“These measures will send a clear message to the world: Canada takes responsibility for environmental protection and enforcement in our Arctic waters,” Harper said at the time.

In December, a Senate committee probing the role of the Canadian Coast Guard in the North issued a report that called for the arming of Arctic patrol ships and mandatory registration of all ships — large and small — travelling through the Northwest Passage.

“We’re saying that all vessels — no matter what size and what they carry — should have to report to Canadian authorities,” Liberal Senator Bill Rompkey, chair of the committee, told Canwest News Service at the time.

“The threat is not just oil spills and not just commercial vessels moving through. The threat is drugs and the threat is terrorism. And we’ve got to counteract that.”

He said anything but mandatory registration of all foreign ships in Canadian waters is “going to lead to chaos” as melting Arctic ice opens northern waterways to more and more traffic from the oil industry, tourism and, potentially, criminals.

In an overview of the new regulations published Saturday in the Canada Gazette, the government acknowledged that “there was some discussion on whether mandatory reporting should be required for all vessels, such as small foreign-flag adventure vessels.”

While “smaller vessels were considered” for mandatory registration, the overview states that they were not included because the regulations are “directed at those vessels that pose the greatest risk to the marine environment.”